Jan. 27, 1998 Contact: Charlotte Crystal (804) 924-6858 FIRST WESTERN TIBETAN BUDDHIST MONK ROBERT THURMAN LAUNCHES U.VA. LIBRARY LECTURE SERIES ON TIBET "...If you have got to think about something, make it the uncertainty of the hour of your death." Gyalse Rinpoche Tibetan Spiritual Guide What does death have to do with life? Everything, according to the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. The more we understand about death and dying and what comes after that, the more serene our own deaths are likely to be. And, perhaps more importantly, the more likely we are to lead fulfilling lives. Robert A. F. Thurman, a friend of the 14th Dalai Lama and world-renowned expert on Tibetan Buddhism, was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans of 1997. He will be in Charlottesville on Feb. 6 to talk about "Discovering Death: The Tibetan Exploration of the World Beyond Death." The talk, which is sponsored by the Associates of the University of Virginia Library, is open to the public and will be held at 3 p.m. at U.Va.'s Minor Hall Auditorium. Ordained by the Dalai Lama in 1965 as the first Western Tibetan Buddhist monk, Thurman has studied Tibetan Buddhism for more than 30 years. He has written and translated a number of books about Buddhism and Tibet, including "The Central Philosophy of Tibet," "The Tibetan Book of the Dead," "Essential Tibetan Buddhism," and the just-published "Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Real Happiness." Thurman, now a professor of religion at Columbia University, was invited to speak at U.Va. by his colleague, P. Jeffrey Hopkins, a professor of religious studies here. "Bob has emerged as a very active and vocal scholar of Tibetan Buddhism and an energetic fundraiser for preserving Tibetan culture outside Communist-dominated Tibet," Hopkins said. "I am most pleased that my friend of 35 years is part of our program." In 1987, Thurman co-founded Tibet House New York with actor Richard Gere and two others on behalf of the Dalai Lama. He now serves as president of the non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture. Tibet House holds a collection of Tibetan art that will be repatriated to the Tibetan people upon their safe resettlement in their homeland. It also contains a library, archives and an authentic shrine room. Tibet House can be reached on the Internet at http://www.tibethouse.org The 14th Dalai Lama, Bstan-d'zin-rgy-mtsho, mounted the throne of Tibet in 1940 at the age of 4. He was forced into exile in India in 1959 after a failed revolt by the Tibetan people against Communist Chinese troops who had occupied the country since 1950. In 1989, the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent efforts to end Chinese domination of Tibet. Mainstream America may have first learned about Tibetan Buddhism in the 1960s from Timothy Leary, the Harvard professor whose "tune in, turn on, drop out" quip became the mantra of America's psychedelic drug culture. His book, "The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead," co-written with fellow Harvard professors, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass), used the Tibetan texts as a guide for the LSD experience, linking drug-altered states of consciousness to a spiritual quest. More recently, two movies have reintroduced Tibet to dinner tables across America: "Seven Years in Tibet," made by French director Jean-Jacques Annaud with heart-throb Brad Pitt in the lead, and "Kundun," by Martin Scorsese. Both films feature breath-taking mountain scenery and explore the spirituality of the country at the top of the world, mixing in politics for a plot line -- Annaud's film is set during World War II, while Scorsese focuses on the Communist Chinese takeover and its impact on the Dalai Lama more than a decade later. Thurman lives in New York City with his wife, Nena, who is managing director of Tibet House New York. Thurman also is the father of actress Uma Thurman. Thurman's talk is one of three planned for a lecture series that accompanies the University Library's exhibit, "The Tibetan Book of the Dead," which runs through March 14 in Alderman Library's McGregor Room. The exhibit brings together more than a dozen ritual objects of art -- including a prayer wheel, a ritual scepter and bell, and a statue of Buddha -- from the holdings of the University's Bayly Art Museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and from private collections. More than 40 of the library's prized texts are showcased as well. The Tibetan exhibit can be viewed online, beginning Friday, Feb. 6 at http://www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/dead The Tibetan collection at the University of Virginia, with more than 10,000 titles, is one of the most complete collections of its kind in the world. The core collection consists of about 3,000 pecha volumes -- traditional Tibetan religious texts, hand-block printed and unbound -- containing about 8,000 titles of texts. The pecha, representing about 40 percent of the collection, are in the format of single sheets, block-printed on both sides of various qualities of paper, some bound, most unbound. Another 40 percent are relatively uniform-size reprints of these pecha, bound as codexes. The remaining 20 percent are in Western book format. Most of the materials are in the Tibetan language and script. Since nearly all of it was published in India, Bhutan and Nepal, with extremely small press runs, it is out of print and virtually irreplaceable. Subjects include Tibetan literature, religion, languages (Tibetan and the Sanskrit) and the principles of Tibetan Buddhist art and iconography. The collection supports a highly regarded program in Tibetan Buddhism in the religious studies department. The program, at the master's and doctoral levels, involves three main faculty members, several lecturers, visiting scholars, and about two dozen graduate students. Future lectures in the series are: "Tibetan Ritual Art: Enlightened Colors in the After-Death World," by Gail Maxwell, a visiting assistant professor of art at U.Va., on Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. in Campbell Hall Room 160. And "Death, Sleep, Dreams, and Sex: Tibetans' Views on Subtle Levels of Mind," by P. Jeffrey Hopkins, professor of religious studies at U.Va., on Feb. 22 at 3:30 p.m. in the McGregor Room in Alderman Library. ### For more information on Thurman's talk, call Jeanne Hammer, (804) 924-3246. For more information on U.Va.'s Tibet Collection, call Philip McEldowney, (804) 924-4987. Television reporters should call our TV News Office at (804) 924-7550. U.Va. news online: http://www.virginia.edu/topnews